Hudson River Events:Towns and Villages On-Hudson

Montgomery County.

December 03, 2008

Reprinted From :http://www.leaderherald.com/page/content.detail/id/507856.html?nav=5011

River projects plannedHydro-electric plants, luxury apartments part of riverfront vision

By KERRY McAVOY, The Leader-Herald

AMSTERDAM - Development plans continue to flourish as the
Mohawk River undergoes a renaissance of sorts with more new projects
being developed across Montgomery County.

The river runs along more than 130 miles from the Utica area all the way to Waterford where it empties into the Hudson River.

The
river has provided the area with a tourism base and has been providing
economic opportunities to the area with everything from the Erie
Canalway Trail to new plans that are under way to generate power and
create new housing opportunities.

In recent months, announcements
have been made for more development. These include such things as a new
park along the river in Fonda, a new bike path and walkway along a
stretch of river in Fultonville, a redone park along the Erie Canal in
Canajoharie and more upgrades along the riverside in Fort Plain.

Since
these plans were announced, more possibilities have come to light,
including a possible relocation of the Walter Elwood Museum,
hyrdro-electric station creations and apartments to rival those in the
swankiest parts of Albany.

The Mohawk River could also soon would
become a power source for the area if an Albany-based company gets the
federal government's OK.

Energy projects are also in the works
that will use the locks at Minden, Canajoharie, Mohawk, Glen, Florida
and Amsterdam to create water based power to provide electricity. Two
of the locks are in Schenectady County, Rotterdam and Glenville, .

The Albany Engineering Corp. Middle Mohawk project will place turbine power houses on locks 8 through 15.

"The
full buildout will include eight sites," Engineer for AEC Wendy Carey
said. "The development of the size is currently being worked out."

Carey said the project is not far enough along yet to give an idea of how much energy could be generated from the turbines.

The idea of the project is to take the water from the river and generate power with it, much like a small hyrdroelectric dam.

"The project won't go to construction until after the regulatory process with the Federal government is complete," Carey said=

The company also automated the Green Island Power Authority site along the Hudson River in Green Island.

New
housing also may be coming to the area with progress being made in
turning the more than 100-year-old Chalmers Knitting Co. building into
luxury apartments that would rent for more than $1,000 a month.

The
estimated $25 million to $30 million project will keep as much of the
architecture as possible while introducing new flooring, windows,
wallboard, wiring and water pipes to the roughly 170 planned apartments.

"The economic environment could be better right now, but it looks good," Uri Kaufmann, a private developer, said.

Kaufmann
has been going around to various cities and looking for old mill
buildings that can be bought and transformed into high end housing.

Kaufmann said this week the project is moving along beautifully and every milestone has been met.

He
said the project is still in the design phase and issues such as how
big the units should be and where the parking lot should go are being
worked out.

A meeting has been set up between the city, the water
fron commission, planning board, code supervisor and various city
engineers to go over plans and work out any issues with the project.

The
next step once the design phase is complete will to go through the
Housing and Urban Development Office in Buffalo to get a commitment to
ensure the mortgage. This means that if the loan is defaulted on the
federal government will step in.

Once all of this is complete funds can be sought for the project.

"The way it works is after we've done every thing and fought through every conceivable issue, we go to HUD," Kaufmann said.

There
has been some controversy for the plan because the city received money
to tear the building down. Kaufmann said the city received a $1.4
million grant from Restore New York to remedy environmental problems
and remove the building.

Kaufmann said he has heard the city can use some of the funds for clean up of environmental hazards at the site.

"If we can't get this approved, they can go ahead and tear it down," Kaufmann said.

The
Guy Park Manor Building, former home to Congressman-elect Paul D. Tonko
during his years as 105th District assemblyman and the Montogmery
County Chamber of Commerce on Route 5 soon may be occupied again. The
building is situated along a stretch of riverside and overlooks a lock
of the canalway. The CSX railroad tracks must be crossed from Route 5
to access the manor.

The Walter Elwood Museum recently has been
working with the New York State Parks and Recreation Department to
house the museum and its vast collection at the manor, according to
museum officials.

The museum was ordered closed by the Greater
Amsterdam School District Board of Education this year because of a bat
problem at the former school at 300 Guy Park Ave. where it was housed.

There
also are concerns about a crumbling chimney and pieces of brick falling
off the building that forced the GASD to shut the doors to visitors and
require staff to have an escort into the building.

The deal is
not yet done, but museum staff and board members have begun to talk
with museum experts about moving the more than 1,000 pieces in the
collection. The move will not be an easy one and could take as long as
a year to get everything to the new location.

"It's not as easy as throwing it all into the back of a moving van," museum Director Ann Peconie said.

Museum
board president Jackie Meola said the move will take a great deal of
work to complete and will take a long time to get done.

Peconie said she would like to stay at 300 Guy Park Ave., but that the Guy Park Manor is a beautiful location to move to.

With
so much development coming to the area in the past year, it is clear if
further developments will come. The only thing that is certain is that
the area can look forward to a newly revitalized riverfront.

HUDSON RIVER MILES

HUDSON RIVER MILES

The Hudson is measured north from Hudson River Mile 0 at the Battery at the southern tip of Manhattan. The George Washington Bridge is at HRM 12, the Tappan Zee 28, Bear Mountain 47, Beacon-Newburgh 62, Mid-Hudson 75, Kingston-Rhinecliff 95, Rip Van Winkle 114, and the Federal Dam at Troy, the head of tidewater, at 153. Entries from points east and west in the watershed reference the corresponding river mile on the mainstem.